Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Hola, me llamo Jun Ping. Mucho gusto.
As you might have guess, I had my very first Spanish lesson today. I have a very interesting teacher. She's from America, but she's Korean. And she is quite a pretty lady. =) Oh, by the way, did you know that Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world and the second most international after English, and is spoken by 350 million people around the world?
Today I've learnt El Alfabeto o Abecedario Español (Spanish alphabet), Saludos y despedidas (greetings and farewells), Presentaciones (simple introductions) and Los números (numbers from 1 to 20). Isn't it cool?
¡Adiós!
Posted by jay pee at 5:05:00 PM
Monday, April 16, 2007
Life in Singapore is moving at a tremendous pace. It's so fast, in fact, it's frightening. Other than the fact that I'm already going into my second year of my polytechnic education, being away from Singapore for merely 2 weeks, a lot of things had happened in my absence. Well, don't think I want to mention them here. They are quite shocking, but not really important to me whatsoever.
Posted by jay pee at 12:29:00 AM
Thursday, April 05, 2007
I'm back! Did you guys miss me? I know I did, but I was a little reluctant to leave Laos. It was so much fun!
My flight to Udon Thani (Thailand) was at 4 plus am on the 22nd of March, but I was there at the airport at 12am. So good of Ben and his friend (don't know how to spell his name) to come and see Weilun and I off (I reckon they are just bored at home =X). Anyway, it was the first time I'm going overseas without my parent and my first ever plane ride. But it was nothing much, but the scene from the plane was great! The clouds were simply beautiful. Once we touched down, we went aboard a super hot and stuffy bus and headed to a big supermarket for some food before heading for Laos (still in Thailand). The KFC there is fantastic. The service is good, the food is good (at least better than Singapore's). So after a torturous 2 hours bus ride to Vientiane (capital of Laos), we finally settled down at Dragon Lodge Inn. Free and easy for the rest of the day.
When I looked around the streets of Vientiane, it wasn't as bad as I think it was. In fact it was quite advance, maybe like Singapore in the 70s? That is when my impression of Laos changed.
For the next one week or so, it was the construction of the library at Nong Duang Secondary School and interaction with the students there. The facilities at the school was really very basic and they don't even have a proper toilet. Yes, it was that bad. I think I was too focused on the construction rather than interacting with the students. So basically we hanged around at the school building the library, trying to communicate with the students, having games with them etc. Of course in between we have time off shopping, visiting place and even slacking at the Inn. That lasted until the 31st of March, as a group of ITE students were coming to take over our work.
We had to get out of the Inn so that the ITE students have a place to stay in. Our lecturer in charged had already planned for us to go over to Vang Vieng. Another torturous 3 hours ride in that hot and stuffy bus to our destination. Vang Vieng was more of a tourist attraction, with a lot of guest houses, Internet cafes, pubs, travel agencies, etc. For the next 2 days, we went caving, kayaking down the river, looking at the gorgeous scenery there, visiting the organic farm, cycling, and many more activities. That was our rest and relax for this trip.
After our final torturous 3 hours ride back to Vientiane, we checked into Novotel Hotel, a 5 star hotel (I personally think it's 4 star). We made good use of the facilities there. I really like that place. It's really comfortable.
Had our closing ceremony on Tuesday. Did some song items for our performances, including a very popular song in Laos now. It's time to say goodbye to the students at Nong Duang Secondary School, a very emotional moment. Even some of the students cried when we were leaving. They gave us their blessings and we were off from Nong Duang. The next day we went to the morning market for more shopping! We shopped and bargained like nobody's business.
So now I'm here back home. We've planned to go back to Laos again during the September holidays to visit the students at Nong Duang Secondary School. I really learnt a lot of things from this trip. Looking forward to the next trip.
P.S. I didn't put down all the details and stuff. If not, I would have to stay up all night just typing. xD
Posted by jay pee at 10:38:00 PM